My bolt is hard to open

[Gills]

Hello. I have a new fierce rifle in 28 nosler with a 26 inch barrel. I started the barrel break in last night with some light loads. I have once fired adg brass, wlrm primers, 91 gr us869 powder, 150gr partitions( just the bullet I am using to get a close zero and barrel break in with). I fired around 7 shots, with three of them my bolt was extremely hard to open it lifted easy but had to be jarred a bit to get it moving back. I measured these cases and there is no difference what so ever between them and the ones that didn't stick. They are all under length by a few thousands. They have zero sign of pressure. What could have caused this. Could be just a real tight chamber with a high polish? Could have the brass needed to be cleaned more? Or do I need to be looking in a different place all together. I have some new brass I was going to put a few rounds in just to see if they stuck in comparison to the once fired. What do you guys think?

 

[338 dude]

You say try a new round that is always a good idea but anytime I get a new rifle I start with new brass, I've had a couple problems in the past trying to use old brass from a different chamber

 

[Jud96]

If the bolt is easy to lift up but hard to pull straight back with no signs of pressure, then I would assume the primary extraction is very minimal. Primary extraction is the mechanical camming of the bolt and action to help pop cases free from the chamber.

I would start with new brass and drop the load 1.0gr and see if the issue persists.

 

[Gills]

I will. I didn't think New to used would make any difference being full length resized, wich I never mentioned in my original post.

 

[338 dude]

I will. I didn't think New to used would make any difference being full length resized, wich I never mentioned in my original post.

Virgin brass would more than likely be under size from what you were doing with your dies and just give you an idea as to what is going on

 

[L.Sherm]

Measure at the .200 line on FL sized cases and fired that might tell you something

 

[Gills]

Measure at the .200 line on FL sized cases and fired that might tell you something

Do you mean .200 up from base?

 

[L.Sherm]

Yes about were the sizing should stop

 

[antelopedundee]

I bought 3 Remington 700 left hand stainless steel actions the last couple of years. One was the way it is supposed to be regarding primary extraction. Another is just so so, not great or bad. The 3rd is about useless. With warm loads one has to force the bolt back.So live with it with lighter loads is about all one can do. Really not worth the cost to fix it even if you can find someone to do it.

 

[ultraedge]

I have had several Remington 700 actions with bad extraction fixed by Nate Dagely at Straight Shot Gunsmithing. I paid about $60.00 plus return shipping. The workmanship was excellent and well worth the price.

 

[archer441]

I recently had the same issue with my 700P in 300WM. There was a small rough spot in the chamber that the fired brass would get caught on. My gunsmith was able to clean it up and the rifle runs great now.

 

[Remhunter]

I have a custom rifle on a 700 action in .280AI that was built by Short Action Customs, that will absolutely not accept fired brass that was shot in my M48 Custom. Even virgin Nosler Brass will have a pretty stiff bolt close until it is once fired and then it becomes very smooth again. After first fire, I neck size it all and it remains very smooth. In short, try virgin brass and see if that does it.

 

[JustMe2]

I am also having a problem extracting my fired brass. The bolt lifts with some effort, but pulling the bolt rearward takes a lot of effort as if it is over pressured. The primers are not showing any pressure signs nor are there any extractor pressure marks. I full length size and am loading 41.3grs of H-4350 which is about 0.5 gr below Hodgdon's recommended max load for the 147gr ELD-M. The bullet is not jammed into the rifling. The fired brass is showing rubbing marks 360 degrees around the base about .200 up from the base. New, never loaded, brass and reloaded full length sized brass easily loads and unloads into the chamber with almost zero effort. Fired brass is removed with much effort and is also tight reinserting the empty fired brass.

Usually as the bullet weight increases, the recommended powder charge decreases. But the Hodgdon manual is listing the maximum powder charge for the 147 ELD-M and 143 ELD-X (41.8) as higher than for the 140 HPBT Match (40.0C) and other 140gr bullets. Is the Hodgdon manual wrong for the 147gr ELD-M and the powder charge listed too high?

 

[antelopedundee]

I am also having a problem extracting my fired brass. The bolt lifts with some effort, but pulling the bolt rearward takes a lot of effort as if it is over pressured. The primers are not showing any pressure signs nor are there any extractor pressure marks. I full length size and am loading 43.1grs of H-4350 which is about 1.5 gr below Hornady's recommended max load for the 147gr ELD-M. The bullet is not jammed into the rifling. The fired brass is showing rubbing marks 360 degrees around the base about .200 up from the base. New, never loaded, brass and reloaded full length sized brass easily loads and unloads into the chamber with almost zero effort. Fired brass is removed with much effort and is also tight reinserting the empty fired brass.

Usually as the bullet weight increases, the recommended powder charge decreases. But the Hornady manual is listing the maximum powder charge for the 147 ELD-M as higher than for the 143 ELD-X and other 140gr bullets. Is the Hornady manual wrong for the 147gr ELD-M and the powder charge listed too high?

Not sure what you mean by "fired" brass. Is that something that's been reloaded more than once? Sounds like your sizing die is not sizing the fired case back down in the base area after a couple of firings. Maybe you need a small base sizing die.